Waves
by MooseSupremacy
Summary: The trip to the beach didn't turn out to be quite what Neku expected. (mostly indulgent angst/fluff for my midwinter blues)


It's a unique feeling to having sun-warmed sand grinding between your feet with a clear blue day above. Lots of summer break events may pretend at this holy grail of a vacation, but sun, sand and brine is wholly an entity of its own when it comes to fun. Even the gloomiest of folks can enjoy themselves, if they open up. An interesting phenomenon was taking place, doing exactly that. The introverted orange haired teen splashed a massive wave of water at two of his friends who were playing in the shallows. Eri squealed as the ocean tumbled over her head, completely drenching her in water, while Shiki melted into a soaking mess, paralyzed by laughter and the shock of sudden cold.

"Neku! That's not funny!" The dripping girl frowned from behind her sodden pink bangs.

"Yes it is." Shiki sputtered between giggles.

"It really is." He grinned, before promptly being assaulted with smaller waves of seawater. Eri chased him on shore, throwing a beach ball at his head as he cackled.

Sitting under a substantial shade casting parasol, one of the two figures shouted, cheering him on with words of encouragement. The main culprit was a boy with broad shoulders and a mess of short blonde hair that had been freed from the usual black beanie that he wore. Next to him was his sister, Rhyme. As the more responsible of the two Bito's, she quietly giggled at the amusing scene.

"Run, Phones, run!" Beat yelled loudly, "Y'better haul it!"

"She's not going to catch him, we're all better at running than the average person." She quipped.

"Heh, true that." Looking over to the tiny blonde, he leaned back on his hands, taking a softer tone. "Sure you don't wanna swim, sis?"

Rhyme looked uncomfortable. "… not-not really. I'm okay. I don't mind if you want to go, I'll be alright by myself."

"Nahhhh. I'm cool. Let those punks make fools of themselves, yeah?" Ever since they had been revived from the Game, Rhyme had an understandable suspicion of open water and what lived within, particularly, sharks. She offered him a soda from the basket she had brought, smiling gratefully at her brother.

The majority of the afternoon went as smooth as the shallows of the water itself, Shiki went around collecting sea shells with Rhyme. Eri turned a color of red from the sun that everyone thought was solely reserved for raspberries, her near constant complaining on how bad this was for her complex faltered off the evening went on. As the sun was setting majestically over the ocean it cast a peachy-orange light on everything, making her horrendous sunburn a form of camouflage. Of course, not after a _completely _unintentional friendly slap on the back from Shiki, which earned her a murderous look and a stifled snicker from Neku.

He swam the entire time, trying to make the most of likely the only trip to the sea they would get this summer. He had found that floating on his back and letting natural buoyancy take over was extremely relaxing, though it did make him a target for Beat, who kept chucking that damn beach ball at him.

Soon, it was time for everyone to gather their scattered belongings and head home. Exhausted but happy, the assortment of teens picked themselves up and started the trek to their homes, promising to hang out again sometime in the near future. All of them except Neku, who wanted to stick around for a while longer. Beat snorted and suggested that they change his nickname to Gills, causing a ripple of laughter amongst the gang. He gave them the single finger salute and continued floating, idly kicking his legs to add momentum occasionally.

After they had all left, the sun had taken its humble leave and departed below the horizon, in the stage where the stars are timid behind the screen of faint glow. Dark enough to chill the air and wind, but enough residue of light to make out shapes, major details, and colors. This was his favorite time of day and the added soft lapping of the waves waltzing to shore made it even better.

Lost in thoughts and gazing up through calm, blue eyes that matched the kindly ocean around him, Neku didn't immediately acknowledge the shape that appeared on the cooling sands. He already knew who it was. Somehow, it didn't surprise him that _he_ would turn up late.

What did surprise him was that the figure began walking towards him nonchalantly. The obstacle of walking into the ocean didn't affect him, as at the point where the water met the sand, it gave a sigh and slipped onto its surface, treading gently but confidently onwards.

"And here I was having a good day, then you showed up." Neku growled as the figure walked to where he was resting comfortably in the water.

"Well _excuse_ me, Neku. But you did invite me, after all." Joshua pouted, leaning over the half submerged teen. Hands jammed in his pockets and the perpetual grin dominating his features.

"Do you know how weird it is that you're standing on freakin' water?"

"I don't know, I think it's very theatric. I could scare some fishermen into thinking it's the rapture or something."

Neku let out a snort of laughter, "Joshua 'The Messiah' Kiryu."

"That sounds like a terrible nickname. I was thinking more along the lines of 'God'."

He cocked an eyebrow at him, unimpressed. "Vain are we?"

"I _am_ a powerful being, after all."

"Screw you."

"Is that an invitation?" Joshua fluttered his eyelashes outrageously.

He played off the pink tinge that crept into his cheeks, thankfully hidden by the darkening atmosphere. Neku scoffed and splashed a handful of sea water at him, pleased when Joshua let out a discontented yelp.

"Real mature, dear."

"Why didn't you show up when everyone else did? Fashionably late?"

"Why haven't you told them about us? Feeling timid?"

"Ugh," Neku groaned. This always got brought up. Just because _he_ was more than happy telling any and everyone did not mean that Neku was. "I'd never hear the end of it from Beat."

"Oh, in that case, I can just arrange an accident or something…"

"Don't joke about that, Josh."

"Touchy."

"Are you going to get down here and swim or just stand there?"

He made a face, crinkling his nose in disgust. "I don't enjoy the whole, 'swimming' thing. It's just that sand gets everywhere eventually, and I don't feel like cleaning it out of-"

"MOVING ON." Neku interrupted, arranging himself so he was no longer floating horizontally.

Scowling, he couldn't help but notice the Composer's grace in the respite before complete nighttime. As the stars peaked their sleepy heads out one by one in their new found courage, each one a pinprick of light against the velvet black sky. Joshua had a faint illumination surrounding him, a pale blue glow that could only been seen from the corners of the eye. Slender, poised, and ethereal, he held himself with a confident air. Only the fading light from the surroundings reflected from the violet eyes, giving them an almost disconcerting liquid depth. His shoulder length hair was a little too grey to be called blond, but hovered on the precipice of silver and gold. He twirled a strand of it absently as he walked in slow, calculated steps with the swimming figure in the water.

Two years had passed since the events of the Game, in those months, Neku had found the hatred and guttural fury towards Joshua eroded away, as stones wear with the surfs treatment. Soon, much to his embarrassment, he'd understood why the faint hope that the Composer would attend the reunion lingered. They really did understand each other, their mutual distrust and dislike of people a concrete link in founding the beginnings of a relationship. A powerful figure and ruler in the spirit realm and a seventeen year old Lazarus mockery? The definition of ridiculous.  
But the idea of any relationship itself is ridiculous, so this patchwork of hate and love did not seem so out of place. All further introspective ideological concepts were shooed away by a dramatic drawn out sigh from Joshua.

"This is all very exciting, Neku, but if there's nothing interesting…"

"Is _this_ interesting?" Without a warning, he threw his arms around Joshua's legs and plunged downward, dragging the mighty Composer underwater. He flailed for a few seconds before prying himself out of the hands of his ex-proxy. The water warbled in the muffled song that plays in the ears of all who go beneath its depths, distorting sound to a gentle roar. Salt water stung his eyes as he opened them, barely able to see anything in the ocean. Ambient spectral outlining gave him even the closest idea of where Joshua was, now that he had left his arms.

He had expected to see the familiar purple eyes glaring contemptuously at him for this, perhaps even the hint of hate that played between them on occasion. However, the look he anticipated did not cross Joshua's face, instead, his eyes were shut loosely, as if in a mild slumber. The beautiful, almost feminine features were lax, and his hair was set in a suspension halo around his head, it trailed upwards as he sank. Arms bent at the elbow and away from the sides of the shirt that no longer fit to his frame, palms facing skywards.

It startled him so much that for a few airless moments, he could only watch as the figure descended into deeper waters in disbelief, thinking it was a prank or joke of sorts. Gathering his sense, Neku panicked. Joshua was sinking, motionless, to recesses of the oceans realm that the now absent light did not reach. There was no trace that he had the intention of surfacing.

Breaching the surface in a sharp gasp, Neku then sucked in a lungful of salt tainted air and went after him.  
Underwater when terrified is a different place than underwater when relaxed. The darkness that once was soothing and the cooling embrace of waves are constricting tendrils. Blackness of the deeper places holds unknown terrors and the cold wraps itself around the chest, narrowing the ribs until air begs for mercy and retreats to the surface in a mad rush. The blue shimmer dimmed with the distance between them, until Neku could hardly see it at all. Head pounding furiously, in a mantra of curses and desperate wishes, all thoughts hinged on _What if I don't get him in time?_ He forced himself through the protest his body offered from the lack of oxygen.

Finally he was getting closer, he could see Joshua now, who held the same position he had when first sinking. Desperation spent its furor in getting Neku to his boyfriend, though it was terror that let him grab the Composer by the waist and haul him towards the blessed surface above them.

The act of physically rising to the world above passed in a blur, brain latched onto the ache that plagued his lungs and limbs from strain. The remaining mental processes went to the limp, water logged teen in his arms. Dragging him onto the beach, Neku heaved for breath, falling to his knees.

"J…Josh." he gasped, head clearing from the fog that settled. "Josh."

Joshua's form remained inert, not even a glimpse of movement from the pallid face and body. Able to form coherent thoughts again, Neku felt his heart race in panic, flaring painfully. He pressed a hand again the side of the Composer's narrow neck, trying to find some sign that he wasn't…  
There was no march of a beat in his throat, the void of a steady pulse, or even a pulse at all made his own falter. Damp, cool skin burned against the palm of his hand.

"Joshua. Come on. Come _on._" Neku panted, trying to force water from him. If he could get the suffocating water from his lungs, get him breathing again, then maybe- maybe-

"You're the _Composer_ of Shibuya, are you really gonna let your dumb ass get beaten like this?" He said, voice cracking. "Don't you _dare_. Come _on._"

An enormous amount of water kept evacuating Joshua, to the point where Neku wondered if the idiot had swallowed half the ocean. He seemed breakable, fragile, and undeniably human. The contents within compressed with the weight he forced on them, they seemed to refuse any form of cooperation. Until-  
Joshua's eyes flew open with a start and he immediate turned to the side and retched another major load of brine. After a few watery sounding wheezes and coughs, he rolled onto his back and tried to regulate his breathing again. They were both heaving, exhausted, but alive.

"Oh my fucking God." Neku sighed, relief filling every nook and cranny of his being. He rested his face on the wet material of Joshua's shirt, forehead against sternum. The rising and falling motion was the most wonderful thing in the goddamn universe.

"So you… do like… the n-nickname?" Joshua croaked out.

"Stop talking." He was far too tired to deal with jokes right now.

Minutes of simply breathing and enjoying the splendor of being alive, on terra firma, out from the grasp of abysmal doom passed. Neku half-heartedly slapped the quiet figure across the face, eyes stinging from their own salt water.

"What the HELL, Josh? Why didn't you-why didn't you tell me that you couldn't swim?!"

"Because I," He punctuated with a rasping cough, "can."

"Then what do you call what just happened?"

"That was an… experiment. I had a hunch."

"A hunch? A _hunch!_?"

Joshua scoffed. "You're cute when you're angry, Neku."

"Shut up. What _hunch_?"

The Composer sat up with a ragged inhale, bringing his legs closer to his chest and cast his eyes back to the churning ocean, that waved quietly back at him. Posture slouched and forlorn, Joshua brushed the sand from his hair wearily.

"Josh…?"

Looking over at his ex-partner, Joshua shrugged. "It doesn't matter."

"Don't pull that crap with me. It matters, it almost got your dumb ass killed, so it matters."

"I thought," He began, "well, I had a feeling, rather. When you become the Composer, you must kill the one that was previously in charge. It's the only way to take over, you see. I knew that when I was a player. But… no one really clarified how you get _out_ of being in charge. Fine print, Neku. It didn't matter at the time to me. I was just happy to not be erased."

Neku inched closer, disrupting the sand beneath him. It was a sign for him to continue.

"I could have just played the Game like a normal person, but I didn't want to win. I didn't want to lose either. Neither sounded particularly fun. I… elected to be part of the Game in the first place. I chose to be a Player, after all." Joshua paused, "Don't hurt yourself, but extrapolate a little here. How does anyone get to be a Player?"

The blue eyes grew wide in understanding as a response. Oh. _Oh._

"…But I digress. I had assumed that the only way out of this forsaken position was to be succeeded. And… as it turns out, I was right. Like I usually am."

Neku gaped in building anger, "Are you fucking serious right now? You nearly drowned, almost let me feel like I had done this to you, because you're bored of being Composer? Are you-"

"Like I said," he interjected, "I didn't think it would be that easy. Heh-heh, what kind of major position would it be if you could just 'quit' anytime you felt like it, hm?"

"Then why didn't you just fucking shoot yourself or something." The words came out unintentionally scathing, partly due to the shock that Joshua, _his_ Joshua, just tried something as senseless as drowning, and had his plan worked, he would have let Neku take the guilt and blame.

Joshua looked hurt, but only for a moment. The person he knew attempted to recede into himself, putting the shell of arrogant apathy to the forefront of his bravado. His usual manner of dealing with issues that bothered him. Though he felt a pang of regret for speaking so sharply, Neku still was bubbling with fury inside.

"Do you know what that would have done to me? Why did you…"

The quiet demeanor showed no emotion at first, but then the façade wavered, "Yes, Neku. I do."

He felt two fingers link with his and complied, weaving them together in an almost laughable match. The Composer's hands felt like slotted pieces of ice melting into his own. Joshua let out a weak chuckle that resembled a sob and did not meet his eyes.

After a few minutes had passed in silence, with a surprisingly fast movement, he lurched to the side and met his lips with Neku's, in an almost cruel kiss. Neku had let go of his hand, surprised, which Joshua then used cross around the back of his neck, bringing him closer. It seemed to conquer any of their previous kisses, this one full of hurt and relief, spelling out in liquid every manner of apologies. They broke apart after a few moments, faces flushed, equally out of breath. Neither had expected the intensity but it was well received. The taste of each other lining the insides of their mouths, along with the salt of the ocean remnants, it was lavishly foreign and familiar at all once.

"If you _ever_ try something like that…" Neku choked, the backlog of words spilling out in an ungracious jumble. "I'll-"

"No you won't."

"You're such a dick."

"Yes, but I'm _your_ dick." Joshua winked flirtatiously, leaning against Neku's shoulder and resting his head on its surface.

"Enough with the innuendo, Josh."

"Oh please, you think it's cute."

"Not when we both almost drowned!"'

"I guess… we were almost-"

"-_Don't even say it you-_"

"_Sleeping with the fishes._"

"I'm going to drown you myself, you annoying little prick."

"Heh-heh." He giggled.

* * *

Author's Note:

I tried to have it be all fluffy and cute, really I did. I'm not good at super cute, sugary bits. I hope it isn't too cliche.

Also, it's winter and I thought some summertime stuff would be nice right about now.

Thank you so much for reading!


End file.
